Brazil is now the epicentre of the South American coronavirus outbreak.(Reuters: Bruno Kelly)
Brazil registered a record 33,274 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, its health ministry said, raising the total to 498,440 in a country with one of the world’s worst outbreaks.
The death toll in Brazil increased to 28,834, with 956 new deaths in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.
The epicentre of the South American coronavirus outbreak, Brazil has now surpassed the death toll of hard-hit Spain, making it the country with the fifth-highest number of fatalities.
Brazil is second in the number of confirmed cases, though trailing far behind the United States which has 1.7 million infections.
Meanwhile, Latin America hit a grim milestone on Saturday as coronavirus deaths topped 50,000 and cases neared 1 million, as Chile, Mexico and Peru also struggle to stem the tide.
New cases stood at 976,425 for the continent, with Brazil counting for over half of deaths and infections, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
